Nineteen
by candestroy
Summary: Naruto and his young wife are willing to do whatever they can to help an old friend through rough times. NaruHinaKiba
1. Real Young

"Naruto! You're home early. No missions today?"

"None that required the service of an able bodied jounin like myself!" I said, as I playfully grabbed my wife and kissed her. She giggled a little bit, but I noticed a bit of a hesitation to kiss me back, so I let go of her.

She gave a contented sigh to herself and started meticulously organizing the napkins, almost as if she knew she had made things awkward. "It will take a little while to get used to your new jounin status, I think!" she said.

"I'm used to it." I said as I sat down.

I noticed her eyes dart towards the guestroom and then quickly back at me with a smile.

"He still here?" I asked.

_Kiba had come to us in the worst emotional shape I had ever seen anyone in. While he was away on a mission, his pregnant wife whom I had never met took their two sons for a walk. When he returned two weeks later, she wasn't at home_

She nodded. "He hasn't eaten anything since he got here." She answered. "I'm starting to get worried."

"Don't you think it's time we took him to a hospital?" I said, standing up. "I mean… that's where he belongs."

"No." Hinata shook her head. "He belongs in a loving home right now."

"I think it would be better for him to go someplace where they can help him." I pushed.

"He's been through a lot already." She said. "I don't want to move him around until he's settled."

He waited out the day and then went to look for her.

"He's got to eat something." I concluded. "It's been what…a week?"

"Eight days." Hinata said quietly. She was keeping track.

"Has he even come out of that room?" I said as I made a move for the room but Hinata grabbed my arm.

"Why are you so eager to get rid of him?" she asked, getting that look on her face that suggested she was on the brink of tears.

She had been murdered, and the two boys left to die. Kiba found them, he freaked, he came to us. Hinata brought him in while I wasn't home, and when I came home she explained he was troubled. I didn't realize at first how troubled he was.

"It's not—" I stuttered.

Hinata was fragile, and I tried my best to be sensitive to her needs, but the truth was I had always known she fancied Kiba above me for years, but he never knew. When we were young, I realized she liked me, and when I finally confronted her, I realized something new; she now liked Kiba.

He got married young—real young—and I knew it crushed Hinata. It crushed me to see her so sad and act so happy for him. After all, he considered them 'friends' and such, so she had no choice but to act happy for him.

So Hinata and I married young—real young—just later on that year.

For three days all I could hear was him crying through the walls. Beside me, Hinata was in tears as well, and when she thought I was sleeping, she stood up and walked around, hugging herself. I wanted to stand and comfort her, but something told me to stay put.

"It's not that." I managed finally. "I just feel like it's important for him to get help and he's not getting that help here."

"We can help him." Hinata begged. "We just have to try harder."

"Hinata," I said, putting my hands on her shoulder. "I'm not trying to start an argument with you. I'm just saying what I think is best for him. And the thing is, Hinata—"

I debated with what I was about to say, and then decided against it.

"What?" she said. "What is it?"

"Nothing." I said.

"I hate it when you do that!" she said angrily. "Tell me what you were going to say, please!"

I took a deep breath. "The thing is," I said regrettably. "If it was one of my buddies you would—"

"If it was one of your buddies?" she repeated in utter disbelief, tears forming in her eyes. "Isn't Kiba one of your buddies too?"

After the first three days, it was silent. He stared at the wall, and wouldn't respond to us when we called to him. Sometimes he slept, and sometimes he lied there with his eyes open. His head moved slightly if one of us entered the room, but we hadn't heard a word for him in long enough.

"If his plan is to starve himself in our guestroom then I won't have it!" I said finally.

"I'm sure that's not his plan!" Hinata said as she buried her face in her hands and went to the table. "He just has to work things out!"

I went over to her as she sobbed, and I put my hand on the back of her head. She jerked her head away and spun around in the chair, facing the wall, her sobs matching those of the ones we had heard from Kiba.

"Naruto," she said. "We're doing fine. We have a baby on the way, and you're finally a jounin. Kiba's lost everything and he just needs a little while to get a hold of himself. Please let him stay."

I ran my fingers through my hair. Stupid me always bending over backwards for my wife.

Too bad I loved her so much.

"All right." I said, circling around her. "Two more days."

"Two more—?" she trailed off.

"If he doesn't get any better in two days, will you promise to let me take him to a hospital?" I asked.

She paused for a long time. A long, long time.

"All right." She swallowed. "Two more days."

"It's the right thing." I said, getting down on my knees and holding her hands.

She wiped her tears away with her shoulder and nodded. "I know." She said. "I just want to see him get through this."

"I know you do." I said, trying to smile. "We all do. And he will get through it, just like he gets through everything else, you know it."

"Thank you so much, Naruto." She said, wrapping her arms around me and hugging tightly.

I slowly rose to my feet so we were both standing, and I held her for longer than she had had to think about sending Kiba away.


	2. Again

There's someone coming up the front steps. That's probably her; Kana; right now, she's coming home. I think she went out for a bit.

But I'm back from my mission, aren't I?

I sat up and put my feet on the floor. Cold. The floor was so cold.

Slowly I put weight on them, but my legs felt weak. I could hear the doorknob being fiddled with, and I wanted to greet her as she came in. It took everything I had to take that step forward,

and in an instant,

I fell.

Suddenly I found myself on the floor, the cold floor.

I tried to get up, but it was impossible. My face felt hot, especially against the floor. The door opened; my door, not the front door. I rolled over onto my back and looked up.

There she was.

"Kana, good morning." I said, hardly able to keep my eyes open.

She dropped to her knees beside me, and I realized no. It's

not

Kana.

"Hinata?" I stuttered finally.

"Are you all right?"

Then it hit me. This was not Kana, and this was not my house. My house was far away, and Kana was even further.

Things were blurry, but it wasn't because of my weakness, I felt underwater, because I was. My eyes were filled with tears, but maybe that was because of my weakness.

"Hinata," I said. "It's Kana, she's gone, isn't she?"

"Kiba—" she whispered.

That's me.

There she was—lying there, in front of me. Or at least, what was left of her. It smelled like her, but it didn't look like her. But hardly—it hardly smelled like her—it smelled rotten, not the beautiful perfume Kana left behind when she walked. I adored that smell, beautiful, just like her.

The boys—my two boys—would have been three, maybe two boys and a girl, I'll never know. Gone.

Gone.

"Gone." I said.

"It's okay." Hinata assured me.

"Okay?" I repeated. "No. It's not okay."

"You have to regain some strength." She lifted my head up off the floor I rested on her lap. I was watching the ceiling, listening to my tears fall down my cheeks.

Shame, regret, despair.

Who did this? I'd find out.

"I have to find him." I decided. I told her, maybe I shouldn't have told her.

"Find who?"

"How long have I been here?"

I went to stand up, but once again my strength gave way. Hinata reached out and put a pillow under my head and then stood up. I didn't want to be alone so I called to her—yelled—begged—I wanted her to come back as I heard movement in the other room.

I wanted to

die.

"Kiba, here." She was there again with a small bowl.

I looked inside to see dark broth as she looked at me eagerly.

"You need your strength."

I ate it all. It wasn't good, but I ate it all.

She put the bowl aside and asked me to wait again, and she disappeared again. Again, I was left alone.

I yelled to her.

She called back to me, asking me to wait.

There were footsteps coming towards the house—coming closer, and slowly.

Kana—it had to be her, home from wherever she was with the boys. But where were the boys? They must be playing somewhere else—must have asked her to let them play, so she's coming home to get them a change of clothes.

I sat up,

"Kana," I said quietly, staring at the door. I had a perfect view of the front door.

It wasn't my front door.

It opened.

"Hinata, there's been—"

Naruto looked at me, and I could only briefly hold eye contact before I threw my hands over my face and fell over backwards again.

Kana is dead.

"Kiba!" he said, rushing over and picking me up off the floor. I struggled against him for fooling me—for tricking me—making me believe that she was coming home.

He easily held me back and lifted me up off the floor, and back to the bed. I felt like a prisoner.

I shouted for Hinata, and she was there in a moment.

I had to find that man who killed her.

"How long has he been like this?"

A pregnant woman with two boys.

"I got home and he was on the floor, I gave him some broth and he ate it—thankfully—"

Helpless—hopeless—defenseless.

I yelled at them both. I couldn't think with them talking.

They were quiet, my head fell to the mattress with the pillow on the floor where I once was. Kana and I loved each other and without her there I

didn't know what

to do.


	3. Escape

I was a little hesitant about asking for time off so soon after I had been promoted to jounin, but Hinata didn't want to be home alone all day with Kiba in the other room. She had been waiting for so long for him to do anything besides lie there and now that he had, she appeared frightened by his mere presence.

The Hokage understood my situation once I explained to him that Kiba was living with us. I didn't want to be away from work for too long, though.

There was something about waking up in the morning and knowing there was nothing to do today except wait that made me feel apprehensive. Maybe that's why Hinata didn't want to be home alone.

When I woke up, it was still so early that it was dark. Hinata wasn't in her usual spot next to me, so I got up and went around the corner to see her, sure enough, sitting at the table with her head down.

"You got up so quietly, I didn't even hear you." I said to her, and she turned around, smiling weakly.

"Morning." She said. "Are you staying home today?"

"Yeah," I said, going over and putting my arms around her. She sighed helplessly and quickly stood up. "Did you check on him already?"

"Not yet." Hinata confessed.

She hadn't gone in that room since the incident yesterday afternoon. When he had finally gotten up and was less than rational. I can understand where he's coming from, so I don't blame him.

I moved my hand down to her stomach and rested it there. She wasn't showing yet, but we knew for sure that she was pregnant. I couldn't be happier and I wanted to tell the whole world, but Hinata had whispered to me a few nights ago, "Don't tell Kiba I'm pregnant…"

At first I thought it was because she was ashamed of me and I spent a bit of time being depressed over that, but soon I came to realize the real reason.

Kiba's wife was pregnant when she died.

"What's on the agenda for the day?" I asked sitting down in the chair across from her.

She moved her own hand to her stomach and she looked longingly at the floor.

"It's just going to be a long one." She confessed.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" I asked.

She nodded. "For the first time in a long time." She admitted.

"Really?" said Naruto. "I didn't sleep at all."

"Sorry." She shrugged apologetically.

We couldn't speak too loudly, we couldn't move around to quickly, we couldn't go for a walk. We had to stay in the house and we had to be quiet and polite as if we were the guests. Kiba rightfully deserved it, I suppose, after all he had been through, and we were only giving him what he rightfully deserved.

"I just can't wait for this all to be over with and for things to be back to normal." Hinata breathed.

Hinata apparently never got the memo that things like this could never be 'over with'. The man's entire family was dead.

I was just about to agree mindlessly just to make her feel better when we both stopped abruptly. I heard the distant sound of running water through the walls.

Hinata heard it too, and I watched her hesitantly tuck some hair behind her ear and listen closely. "What is that?" she said finally.

"Water." I answered.

I glanced at the faucet, but it was surely off.

"Sounds like it's coming from…" Hinata began as she looked off at the wall in the direction of the guestroom.

There was a bathroom attached to the guestroom on the other side.

Hinata and I glanced at each other.

"I don't…" Hinata said slowly as she stood up and made her way over to the guestroom and opened the door. Kiba was not in bed like he had been for so long and, sure enough, the door to the bathroom was closed and the water was distinctly coming from that room.

Hinata made a move for the bathroom door, but I grabbed her arm and told her to let me do it. She waited in the doorway and I went over to the bathroom, knocking quietly.

I got no response, so I knocked again.

Faintly, I heard a voice acknowledge my existence.

"Kiba?" I asked.

At first, he didn't answer, but then he vaguely returned with a, "Uh?"

I paused. "Everything okay in there?"

"Mm."

I turned back to Hinata, but remained at the door.

"What are you doing in there?" I said.

The sound Kiba made sounded similar to a laugh, but I couldn't imagine why Kiba would be laughing.

"I'm taking a shower."


	4. Decision

"Kiba, hey so, you feeling okay?"

Naruto and I were about the same size so he loaned me some clothes until I could go back to my old house and pick some things up. I nodded to him as I looked for a shirt that I guessed Naruto wouldn't mind getting dirty.

"Yeah, feeling fine."

It wasn't entirely true. Granted, I was feeling much better than I had the days before, I still was in the worse physical condition of my life.

"You uh…look real thin." Naruto commented.

"Do I?"

Naruto just stared at me as I pulled one of his shirts over my head.

"What's up?" he said finally.

"What do you mean?"

"What's with this all of a sudden?"

"What's with what…?"

I knew what he was talking about, but I'd prefer just to leave it as an open-ended question. I had already decided that I was spending way too much time feeling sorry for myself, questioning what I could have done differently and how I could have changed things. No, I was done with that part of my life. It was time that I did something important with my time.

"I'm going to find the man who killed her, and I'm going to kill him." I told Naruto.

He didn't say anything at first, only followed me around the corner towards the front door, and then put his hand on the knob before I could.

"What?" he said. "That's it? You're just going to walk out the door and that's that? Who do you think you are?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You crash here for a week and a half, and I mean literally crash here, and one day you just spring up, take a shower and walk out, declaring that you're off to kill the man who killed your family?"

I stiffened up. Somehow, it didn't sound as insane when it went through my head as when it came out of his mouth.

"Yes. Essentially. You hit the nail on the head."

"What makes you think you'll be able to find this guy?"

"I don't know. But I've made up my mind. This is something I'm going to do no matter what."

I gestured for him to remove his hand from the door, but he didn't budge.

"Look at yourself." He said suddenly. "You've probably lost more than twenty pounds. You've hardly been out of bed for all this time. What makes you think you can just throw yourself into a mission like this? You need to give yourself time to heal first."

"Time to heal?"

I was shocked. This was coming from Naruto?

"Naruto, really. Now who do you think you are?"

"I'm just saying." Naruto let go of the door and grabbed my arm instead. Surprisingly enough, it actually hurt quite a bit. He must have noticed me wince or something because he shook his head in disbelief, and what appeared to be disappointment.

"What are you trying to say?"

"Stay here for a few more days." He requested. "Rest the healthy way, get back your strength and train a little."

"Don't say that." I warned him. "I've heard you. You want me out of here. Don't try to act as though you want to keep me around."

I grabbed the doorknob and tried to open it but Naruto pushed it closed again.

"Kiba, this is what's best, seriously."

"You don't know what's best for me."

"Come on, now this is just getting ridiculous."

I knocked his hand aside, and caught him off guard so I could finally pull the door open. He stumbled backwards a step as I went out onto the front porch, and was initially blinded by the sunlight.

I blocked my eyes, hardly able to keep them open.

Had it really been a week and a half?

"Kiba—"

He put his hand on my shoulder and I wrenched myself away. I faced him and made my way down the stairs backwards, keeping my eyes locked with his, though squinting.

"I appreciate your hospitality." I said. "But this is something I have to do."

"Kiba, Hinata won't want to see you go."

He came out onto the porch and, as my foot reached the bottom stair, I hesitated.

"She's just out for the afternoon." Naruto went on as he descended the stairs as well, coming towards me. "At least stay until she gets back and leave then, just so she has some completion. If you leave when she's not home, she'll never forgive me."

"Sorry, Naruto." I said, turning away. "I can't help you. You'll just have to explain to Hinata what I was saying."

"No, that doesn't work." Naruto said, his voice elevating as he stomped down the steps and once again grasped my arm firmly. "This isn't your decision anymore. When you came to us, you put yourself in our care and you can't just take off now that you think you're all set. We know that you're—"

"Let me go!" I yelled at him as I pulled away, but he held tightly.

I glared at him. He held his ground.


End file.
